Catching up...

It's time to play catch up! I am on fall break this whole week, so I'd better do it while I can! There are a few random notes that I want to get down now in case I forget them when I do the 8 month (WHAT??!! eight month??) blog update. Henry is tilting his head to the side all the time now and raising up his shoulder when he smiles....as if he couldn't get any cuter he goes and does this! He is continuing to notice so much...a flock of birds overhead and light posts in the neighborhood on our walks. He will just crank his neck around to follow as we pass. His current favorite book is "Doggies" by Sandra Boynton-we think it is because it makes us sound like idiots as we attempt to make all the different barking sounds in the book. Still disliking baby food overall. Sleep is getting better! He is no longer waking up in the middle of the night and his early morning feeding is more like 4-5 rather than 3-4, so that is improvement! He still goes back to sleep until about 6:30-7:00ish. We are working on him saying "Dada" and sometimes I really feel like he imitates us! It is an easy one since Steven comes and goes a lot, that way when he comes in the door he has something to associate with the sound I am attempting to get him to make. He will be making all kinds of other noises, but after I start saying Dada he will listen and has switched over to Dada. Maybe it is nothing, but I think it is a start:) I don't mind him saying Dada first, either. It is cute! I know I will hear plenty of Mama soon enough! He already makes the "Mmmmmm" sound quite a bit. Henry also squeals and smiles so big when Steven comes in after work. So sweet! He is a friendly guy to everyone, and he "flirts" when we are out. Yesterday I was checking out, and evidently he was smiling and smiling at a girl behind us in line. She said "He's so animated! I make a face, then he makes one back at me."
Well, I guess that is all for now. See below for a re-cap of the last few weeks!

Visiting the neighbors one day...Bennett is 15 months and Henry is 7 months. Who is dwarfing who?

Steven playing with Henry after work one day. Sweet guys.

I got Henry a few small toys at the consignment sale and also pulled out the ring one that I had been saving until he was ready. He loves the Vtech farm toy and, as you can see, the ring toy is right up his alley!

Steven thinks this picture looks like Henry is playing charades and saying "sounds like":)

On Sunday 10/7 Grandpa and Peggy came down for the afternoon for a visit. Henry had just woken up from a long nap after church...he was pretty taken by Peggy!

Gramps on the floor playing.

We had a great afternoon visit!

And got pizza afterward...it was a little tedious keeping Hank entertained, but we managed! I can tell that eating out will become a task soon....

Henry hanging with his pup. This outfit he is wearing was his 10 year old cousin Camden's. Heather said it was the outfit she went out and bought when she found out she was having a boy:)

We Facetime our family up in Kentucky (Heather, Jimmy, and the 3 kids) to try to keep in touch. Always before, Henry would look at the Ipod, but we don't really think he "got it" until this time. He was staring at the screen and talking away (you can kind of tell by his facial expression here).

Got her!

Reading books one night before bed...Henry thinks books sure do taste good! :)

Henry has gotten to where he will lay his head on your shoulder while you're holding him and cuddle for a minute. I thought he was getting sleepy here, so tried to rock him. He was good with some cuddle time (so sweet!), but....

naptime? Think again, Mom.

He is still not a fan of baby food at all....there we are trying sweet potatoes. He looks like he is saying, "Seriously, guys? What is this junk?" And I thought he might like sweet potatoes! Silly me!

So, I have get a week of fall break which is WONDERFUL! My parents had planned to head to the beach in October, so we tagged along. We had such beautiful weather and a great time in Orange Beach. We went Friday through Tuesday, but could have stayed the rest of the week! Here are Henry's cute little toes in the clear pool.

There was a nice breeze and the temp was in the low 80's the whole time. Henry loves the water and splashes and splashes. It is funny, though, because every time we put him in his float (above) he would totally veg out. It put him in a trance or something! He must have felt like it was nap time, but as soon as we got him out he livened right back up and was ready to play!

Here he is grabbing at the water ready to splash!

He was kick, kick, kicking which must have surprised my mom:)

There was a long stretch of the sand that the waves were washing up on, so it was the perfect perch for a baby! He got to get his toes in the sand and feel the waves in a very "low key" way!

Henry took some seriously good naps while we were there, and here he is after one:) I walked in on Steven and my Dad watching football and Henry was in the middle of them-all eyes on the TV of course! He is also mesmerized by my Dad as you can see here!

The weather was so beautiful that we set up Henry's play area on the balcony. This looks like he is looking at the camera and thinking, "Why does she always point that thing in my face??"

Get a load of those teeth!

I love the way he scrunches up his nose when he smiles big.

Sweet beach babe.

My mom was awesome help with Henry. She stayed in the condo during his naps so we could take advantage of the beach and she loved playing with him in the water when he was awake, too! Every time he would look at my mom he would just grin and grin. We think he was amused by her big floppy hat.

Henry loved to grab at my Dad's face....actually, I think he was going for his mustache the whole time. Looks like he finally got a hold of it!

Cuddling with his Papa:)

Dad and Henry made a lot of "grunt" noises at each other. They know how to communicate in old man/baby:) Dad kept saying, "Can you say Papa?"

Grilling by the pool one evening.

What a cute little family:)

The weather was perfect....warm during the day and a slight breeze at night. Just right for a light jacket!

I love Henry's profile.

Ugg...if only Henry were in focus. This one would have been great!

Love this one.

We are big Rook players in my family....here is Henry getting his first introduction with some extra cards! There's plenty more where that came from, Buddy! You have a whole lifetime of Rook playing ahead of you!

Henry would just dig and dig his little hands into the sand:)

His shirt says "This is the Life" on it. Perfect for vacation!

Trying a photo op one evening while we were out for dinner. We had just given him a bath, so Henry's hair looks all fluffy:)

Cutie!

This was the best one.

This was our last morning at the beach. Saying goodby is such sweet sorrow.....

We tried to take a picture of him without his sunhat on. He was so happy that morning and tried and tried to look up at us with that big grin on his face, but every time he did the sun was just so bright that he looked back down. His eyes were watering as he smiled!

There was an awesome Halloween sand sculpture we saw the day before, but never made it back over there to get a picture. By the morning the front of it was all washed away, but the back of it was not half bad either! At least we got a pumpkin out of it!

We used the indoor pool, too, when it was too cool or we had had enough sun exposure. Henry was SO happy in there!

He just smiled and smiled! Goodbye vacation....until we meet again.

We had ordered a swing for Henry and it has just gotten in when we got back. We put it up that evening and he loved it! We were in shock at the chilly weather, but I guess it IS technically the middle of October!

We will look forward to lots of adventures on this swing in the future!

7 months old!

Henry turned seven months old yesterday! I can't believe it. This past month has been SO much fun, and we are trying to enjoy each minute of his babyhood. He is such a sweet guy, and getting to know his personality is just a neat experience. Below are some highlights of what is up in his life right now. In no particular order....
Henry is noticing lots of stuff outside. He cranks his neck to see an airplane in the sky and the contrast of a big tree outlined against the blue of the sky. He also notices cars passing by on our street when he is sitting in the Bumbo on the dining room table (yes, I do that) and will turn his head as it goes by. He bounces/dances and "grooves" all the time now...while he is sitting up playing with toys or when he is on our hip he is constantly moving and babbling at the same time. He also bounces a lot in the jump-a-roo! Henry also makes lots of eye contact and will stare you down-sometimes it's like he is trying his best to figure you out. Several people have commented that they don't see many babies so young doing that. Squealing and talking are a regular occurrence around here; Henry seems to be quite verbal and the nursery workers at school have confirmed this. He knows Steven and lights up when he sees him. Yesterday when Steven walked in from work, Henry saw him from the living room, gave him a big grin, and let out a big squeal as if to say, "Hey, Dad! I'm glad you're home!!"
Henry loves toys, but Maggie is still his favorite entertainment, and he will ALWAYS give her a big grin, even if he is upset or crying (she's a great diversion!). He grabs at EVERYTHING and just in the past few weeks starts to cry if I take away something he was holding (like chew beads). The funny thing is that I can give it right back, but it does not help. He is upset and just has to fuss it out. While driving, I can now smile at him in his mirror while I am sitting in the driver's seat and he smiles back. Henry is still super ticklish...feet, inner legs, ribs, back, armpits, chest. It is pretty funny and always gets a reaction. He will squeal and giggle. He is a big fan of "pee-pie" and "where's Henry?" When the TV is on he is majorly attracted to it, so we have to watch that. He is mesmerized. He does NOT like us to wipe his nose or have clothes pulled over his head. Henry now sits up like a pro and also love to be on his belly. He does pushups all the time and kind of does the "plank" move, too. I know this is precursor to crawling, but I try not to think about that! When he is on his belly or sitting, he somehow moves himself all around to that he can get to what he wants. I always put him on a nice clean blanket, and he somehow always gets OFF the nice clean blanket in no time. Oh, well! I try.
I used to never rock him to sleep, but since I have seen just how very fast these past months have gone, I have broken that policy as of late. I sometimes rock him to sleep for his nap in the sunroom and he is so sweet to snuggle with that I love doing it. It hasn't seemed to ruin him as he can still be laid down to sleep easily for nap or at night and go to sleep on his own. Daytime sleep is still great, but we have regressed a bit in the nights unfortunately. Not sure what his deal is, but he now wakes up around 3 or 4 in the morning. We were patting him back to sleep, but found it was easier for everyone if I just fed him. I am okay with this, but hope it does not last! Maybe it's a growth spurt? He has also started fussing around 12 or 1, but can be easily patted back to sleep that time. I think this has happened due to a lingering cough that woke him up in the night for over a week, so now he is kind of in that routine. 
He still nurses every 3-4 hours and has added in some cereal and baby food. As of this post, he is eating cereal with breast milk and banana in the morning and a veggie at night. He has liked peas and bananas, but hasn't loved zucchini. Next month will be an adventure as we add in lots more flavors and textures. Below is a general schedule for him, although it changes a bit daily because my school schedule is a bit different, but this is pretty much it. Sometimes there is an extra feeding thrown in there or he naps longer or shorter...I am not a super rigid Mom and try to be somewhat flexible. He is a super happy guy, so this seems to work for him.

7:00-wakes up (he would have woken and nursed that earlier time...like around 4:00)
8:45-cereal with milk/banana
9:30-nurses and naps for 1.5 to 2.5 hours
1:00ish-nurses
2:30ish-naps for about 1.5 hours, nurses when wakes up
6:00-vegetable baby food
7:00-bath, nurses
7:30-lay him down for the night

Well, that is all the random stuff I can think of off the top of my head about my baby boy! Daddy and I love you, Henry, and love watching you grow and change. Can't wait to see what next month holds for you!

last week

 See below for last week's events!

Steven had a birthday on Thursday (the big 3-1), so we went to dinner at Rosie's and he opened our gift...a few shirts and a CD. His big gift was a weekend golf trip with small group guys to Atlanta.

I took this to show how I put Henry in a nice clean spot, but he quickly gets off of it and gets on my dirty rug...oh, well! He is fast as lightning, too!

This was a big deal! Now that Henry is sitting up so well, I thought it was time to try him out sitting in the cart. I have one of those cart covers and debated on whether to use it or not...am I going to be one of those moms who lugs it around everywhere with her? While I would like to be, I am not. I have resigned myself to wipe down the cart with an antibacterial wipe each time and call that enough. But am I the kind of mom who would take a picture of her kid in the cart? Totally. After a moment of fussing, Henry got comfy in the cart and loved it (as you can see). He got WAY too much attention from everyone at the store, too.

Since Steven was out of town for the weekend, I had a great day Saturday around the house with Henry. Then Saturday night, the small group girls had a girls' night. We went to dinner and the Melting Pot for dessert (YUM), so Henry had his first experience with a babysitter and did great! Then on Sunday, I drove to TN for a day with my family. We went to church together and afterward hung out...above is Aunt Marie who hadn't seen Henry since he was 6 wks old along with cousins Mary Ellen and Emma. I hate that this pic was blurry, but that's what I get for not checking whether or not it turned out.

Cousin Emma is getting SO tall....she is almost eleven!

Henry would not take his eyes off of George...he found him fascinating for some reason! He just kept staring him down.

My good friend Abby came by for a few hours to see Henry and visit. It was great to see her! Although next time she'd better bring her 2 kiddos along, too!

We took advantage of the beautiful late September weather.

Henry kept grabbing for Papa. His glasses? His big schnoz? No...his stash. Got it!

We got Henry all ready for bed before the drive back to AL...having fun in Manar's sink!

Where's Henry?

Where'd he go? (love the smile under the washcloth)

There he is!!

What a cutie pie.

I took this picture to attempt to show Henry's busy hands...he constantly has something in them and is always moving them. He holds out his arms and twists whatever he has in them, rotating his wrists over and over and watches it move. Busy body, anyone?

Letting the right hand rest and giving the left hand a workout now:)

P.S.

I forgot to add some pictures from the past 2 weeks that my friend Sarah sent us. We went to the driving range with them one evening and I did not have my camera, but she did. She took some really cute pictures that I want to include!  Enjoy!